


Life's Work

by Skeren



Category: Final Fantasy VII
Genre: Bad Lab Practices, F/M, Human Experimentation, Lucrecia is not Angel, Self-Experimentation
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-02-24
Updated: 2016-02-24
Packaged: 2018-05-22 23:31:24
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,900
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6097499
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Skeren/pseuds/Skeren
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Hojo saw everything through the lens of one with a practical, if scientific, mind. That didn't mean he doesn't have <i>feelings</i>.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Life's Work

**Author's Note:**

> Written August 2006.

He ran his fingers over the woman's cheek. He hadn't really believed the rumors that they'd found a Cetra. She was unearthly, perfect, just like he would have expected from any supreme race of being. Pulling his hand back when he realized her skin was apparently rather fragile, he turned to set about making arrangements to get her contained properly, not wanting her to deteriorate any further in condition. 

She was important, and while he'd find a way to use that, it would do no good to let her decay until he did. Stepping out of the room, he pushed his glasses up his nose and smiled, a small, pleased, chilly thing, before he went to dismiss his escort for the night.

He was, of course, noticed even as he stepped into the room, only a quick glance had been given before the man had turned back to the coffee. "I don't think I quite like the idea of you being in a good mood. It likely means you've tracked down some unfortunate new species of animal to dissect." The reception was no less than he'd expected of the Turk.

"But you should! My life's work is finally going to go somewhere. Do you have any idea how important that find is? The president does, and that's why you're here to make sure that nobody steals the developments that we're going to make. She's perfect."

Crimson eyes looked over again, and the pale man pushed a coffee cup under his nose, sipping at his own as he gave him a rather bland look. "She's a corpse, or close enough that it doesn’t really matter."

"She's alive. She's old too, hundreds, maybe even thousands of years, and she's still alive. I wouldn't expect a man like you to realize the importance." He took a deep drink, not really caring what it tasted like or that the man had done it wrong, again. He'd figure it out eventually. 

"Because I'm just a bodyguard?" 

"No, because you have no vision. There's another scientist on this project with me, but he seems about as enthused about this as you, more's the pity." He set the cup down and moved towards the door. "You can go home, security's already running the final check and I don't need you distracting me."

The shorthaired man pinched the bridge of his nose in annoyance, but nodded. "Of course. I'll be back in the morning then."

He waved a hand absently, already having collected a file with the preliminary results from one of the assistants as he left the room. "Fine, fine. Make sure I know, and stay out of my way."

* * *

Days, weeks, months, passed quickly after that. Gast had found his own project, one that he personally thought significantly less of. The results weren't nearly so impressive, and he couldn't honestly bring himself to care when he had a perfect specimen already. 

Jenova. 

Her very existence was giving him ideas he couldn’t dare use on other humans. Not without more testing. Animals had reacted well, flourished even, and that simply proved that her genetics were superior to Gast's pet, whose genes hadn't shown any real effect in other creatures at all. He could admit, if nothing else, that perhaps Jenova wasn't a Cetra, but she was _better_ than a Cetra. She was something else entirely, and that something was above human and Cetra both. It was something that they could only aspire to be.

The other scientist had told him he was becoming obsessed before he'd left. The departure merely caused no further problems for his experiments, and the constant checking and crosschecking was no more in the man's absence. If he was obsessed, then Gast had been no better, with the adoring way he'd coddled his own specimen after she'd come awake. You couldn't learn anything if you weren't willing to sacrifice.

He was willing. He would put his own health at risk, and if he proved right, then he would never regret it. If he was right, he might yet petition for human subjects in the future. They would only get the benefits, and it could be considered a positive ideal. For now though, he would brace himself in his room overnight and see if the effects would get to him as quickly as they had the animals he'd been testing on.

They did. That night wasn't an easy one, dragging out as he dealt with an unfamiliar burning in his veins. In the morning, hands a little shaky, he'd written out his findings before daring to sleep. The pain had ceased by then, and by the morning after that, having slept the day through, he woke and realized nothing ached at all, not even the pains he was by then well used to.

It was a successful test.

It wasn't long after that that he gained a rather promising new doctor to help him sort out the findings he'd been sending in. She even had suitable ideas to add to his project with one of her own. Between the two, mako and Jenova, they got positively fascinating results. Wisely, he never mentioned what he'd done with his own experiment, as he would never be fool enough to think that she would actually approve. It was bad form to test on oneself without at least having someone doing observations for you. 

Still, something whispered in the back of his mind that the professional relationship could be furthered through a private one. "Valentine seems to have a fondness for you."

She glanced towards the door the mentioned man was outside of on a little sigh, then looked back to him, shaking her head. "I know. I don't feel the same. It doesn't really matter as long as it doesn't interfere with our work though, does it?"

He shook his head slightly, reaching out to still her hands before she could start on the next bit of lab work. They were between a set, so it could hold for a few moments. "I was making sure that you were free."

"Free? I am." She nodded slightly, studying him for a moment before tugging her hands out of his grasp. "Was there anything you had in mind?"

"Coffee, back at my apartments? We could go over that theory that you've been hinting about recently." A smile flit over his face as a slight flush touched her cheeks. 

"I didn't think I'd been so obvious about that. I'd love to." She turned and picked up an empty vial, penning in some numbers off the chart, blue eyes focusing on her new task. "After we finish here?"

"Yes, after that." He turned and started to move a few sealed containers over to another station. "Do you need me to drive you?"

She paused, looking at him sideways through her hair, and he turned to unlock the refrigerator so that she would think that he hadn't noticed. "I'd like that."

"Perfect." Closing the samples in the cooling unit, he returned to the project.

* * *

The ceremony was simple, and they'd both mutually decided that a honeymoon would be excessive. Children had come up as a topic, and they'd agreed that it might be beneficial as long as they kept the circumstances controlled. Unfortunately, they clearly needed to speak about what was, and wasn't, wise to talk about in hearing range of others.

"I've heard you talking, you know. About what you plan to do now when she's pregnant, and it's not right. When I first met you, you wouldn't have considered going that far with this obsession of yours. Animals, a volunteer sometimes, _maybe_ , but never a child, and certainly not yours!"

He watched the crimson-eyed man calmly, tugging open a drawer as he considered a reply, taking the pause to mean that one was expected. "How would you know, exactly, what it is that I would and wouldn't consider? We've never been friends. Or maybe you're just feeling a bit possessive over my wife? It's a bit late now, don't you think?"

He watched as the man paused his pacing, hands fisting at his sides, and he sincerely hoped that the man wasn't foolish enough to think that his feelings had never been noticed for the woman. He wasn't blind, and Lucretia wasn't stupid. "It's my job to pay attention. It's been my job from the beginning, and I have. I do… care about your wife, and I can admit that I don't think this would be good for her, but this isn't all just about her. Can you honestly say you're willing to experiment on a child?"

"Honestly?" He reached down, using the man's intense focus on his words to pull the gun out of it's resting place. "Yes, I can. You're not going to try and interfere are you?"

The Turk backed off a couple steps as he spotted the weapon, eyes narrowing. "Hojo…"

"I think it's about time your term of service came to a close." Without any hesitation, he lifted the gun, shooting the man before he could duck behind something and block the shot, or worse, pull a weapon to retaliate. Instead, a pale hand went to the new wound. He glanced over as the door opened, not having expected to see Lucretia hovering in the doorway as the man went to his knees between them. "You're early."

"Hojo, what have you done?" She moved quickly to kneel next to the bleeding man, pressing her sweater against the wound, brushing his hands aside to try and stop him from blocking her actions while keeping him mostly upright. "You have no idea what I've been doing."

"Lucretia?" He set the gun on the desk, taking in the brisk, almost worried tone of her actions, studying her for any signs of stress. 

"Hold this. Here. You did it, you can at least help me." She glared at him until he complied, then left the room on quick feet, a little off balance because she was just starting to show in her pregnancy, but nothing severe enough to warrant concern. 

"Well, apparently I spoke too soon, didn't I?" He wasn't nice about being the stopper for the wound, leaning in to study the man's face in curiosity as to what could have her suddenly caring, ignoring the glare he was receiving in return.

The footsteps were slower on their return, but not by much, and she waved him back as soon as she passed the doorway. "You don’t want to get this on you."

"Lucretia?" Still, he complied, more curious than anything about the sudden turn of events, and if she said he didn't want to touch something, he'd at least give her a chance to explain why. 

"Not now Hojo. Later. In private." She crouched and used her free hand to tilt the dying man's head, putting the vial to his lips. "If you don't want to die, then drink this."

Whatever she was feeding him certainly wasn't a potion, not that one would help enough. Apparently the man was aware that, just as he seemed aware that if he didn't drink he was as good as dead anyway. He obeyed, and when the container was empty, she pushed away from him fairly quickly. 

"I'll call and let them know we had an attack. Go get someone to take care of the mess. It's fine to leave him now." She looked from one to the other and shook her head, taking a deep breath to visibly restrain her upset, then left the room to find a phone.

To all intents and purposes, the man ended up being declared dead. He'd bled out, and his life ratings had more or less come to a standstill while in the care of a medical practitioner. On request, Lucretia had gotten to keep the 'body' and she'd explained to Hojo what she'd used on the man. It had to do with her G-cell project, which she'd been working on years before with the man's father. She didn't want to ruin any of their current experiments with possibly clashing DNA modifications, so she'd been carefully monitoring and fiddling with the Turk's vitals when possible instead. 

Then he'd gone and interrupted her experiment. Unfortunately, it upset her terribly, and the feral ferocity and improvisation needed to re-contain the results of the mistake had only added further strain on her. In all, the guard had caused quite a mess with his misplaced concerns. It wouldn't have been a problem if he'd been aware of the experiment beforehand, but it was too late to go back and redo the conversation, and at the time it had been the only appropriate tact to take. It simply meant that they needed to tread carefully around her health to continue their Jenova based work on the fetus. 

When she went into decline, he made sure to put her in a contained environment so that the child wouldn't have more complications. He didn't want to lose such a good companion due to an accident in circumstances. Unfortunately, while the child made it through perfectly, Lucretia did not fare as well. She went into a near coma in the eighth month, death not far on the heels of the birth. It had been a caesarean due to her unfit state.

The boy had unique coloring, unlike either of theirs, and while he seemed to have acquired a few features from each of them, the boy had a wholly unreal quality about him as well. It made it just that much easier to settle him in a nest of blankets before going to deal with the mother's last project.

Though it was of no use to him, he would at least see if her research had been in vain entirely. The hand hadn't regenerated, which was a disappointment, but the cybernetic replacement for it had been a brilliant idea, and it needed testing. When that was complete, he could allow the experiment to rest entirely so he could focus on the Jenova-child. The man hadn't been coherent and awake at once since he'd been shot though, so it had taken some trial and error to determine what effects different drugs had on him until he found something suitable.

Using a few drugs that had had the correct effects proved to get him properly lucid, though he had no definite timetable how long it would last. He waited until the unnatural eyes were open to speak. "Can you understand me?"

There was a change in the breathing, and the man focused on where he was leaning over him. "Yes. Where am I?" Of course, then he tried to move, the raspy reply apparently not having been quite enough of a question. No, the fool had to _look_ as well. He allowed it, watching the cybernetic hand move as the man pushed himself to an upright position. 

"You're in my laboratory."

The wandering eyes snapped back to him, and he pushed up his glasses as he caught the uneasy edge creeping into the specimen's voice. "What? Why? How long have I been here?"

"Months now." He couldn't help a small smile when he saw the horror-stricken look that crossed the man's face upon finally catching sight of the gold plated little masterpiece.

"What did you do to me? Where's Lucretia? Does she know about this?"

Quicker and quicker words… He wondered if the man was going to panic. He didn't really want to deal with that, so he moved and pricked him with a sedative, fully intending on keeping the man from being able to switch into those beasts of his. "No. She's dead."

"You-"

He cut in before the man could even start. " _I_ didn’t do anything. The stress caused by your condition killed her." 

"What?"

He shoved clothes at the man as he heard the strained whisper, watching the eyes go wide, and was thoroughly amused when he started to dress in what he'd been given without even a word of question about it. "Yes. You nearly killed her in one of your fits, and she ended up dying when she had the baby because her body couldn't handle any more strain."

"I wouldn't have-"

"You did." The tone was sharp and low, allowing for no more argument as he steered the man towards a coffin he'd put together just for him. He was going to be gone and out of his sight from now on. 

It was to his fortune that the man went where pushed. "Her baby's alive, isn't it?"

He pushed him harder with the question, watching him stumble, then moved to apply another shot before he could really snap out of his shock. A little flash of annoyance flickered in him that the man felt he had the right to ask. "My son is perfectly healthy. You, however, I think I won't be seeing for a long time."

When the man drew a sharp breath, he shoved him down into the padding, shutting the lid before the gathering storm could break. Latching the box securely as he held the top down against the delayed reaction as the man started to thrash inside, he shook his head and chuckled lowly. He only just realized the one good thing about the uselessness of his wife's final project, problems and all.

He never needed to taste that horrible coffee ever again.


End file.
